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Monday, February 17, 2014

Jean Henry Mead is an award-winning novelist and photojournalist published domestically as well as abroad. She's the author of 20 books, half of them novels, which include the Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series, Hamilton Kids’ mysteries, Wyoming historicals and nonfiction books. She’s with us today to talk about the book buying market.

Please welcome, Jean Henry Mead:

Every writer I've talked to has said that print and ebook sales are down. Many believe that Amazon’s Kindle Select Program, which offers “freebies,” is responsible for the loss of sales. But there’s another reason: the growing popularity of audio books, which account for a growing share of the market.

Busy people don’t have to forsake their favorite authors because they can listen to them on e-readers, computers and other electronic devices. Audible.com has gone even further with its Whispersync program, which allows the buyer to switch back and forth between reading and listening on Kindle Fire. And I’m not referring to the robotic voices previously available on all e-readers. The narrators don’t just read the stories, they bring the plot to life by acting out each character’s voice.

Granted, men attempting to imitate women’s voices or women imitating men can be humorous, but generally, they do quite well. One of my novels, Escape, a Wyoming Historical Novel, contains two short songs, which the award-winning narrator struggled with and only succeeded in adding to the book’s humor.

Working with various narrators can be fun although probably frustrating for them. A talented young woman is recording my children’s mysteries as well as my adult novels. When she asked how the sheriff in A Village Shattered should sound, I told her I envisioned his voice as Clark Gable’s. Bless her heart, she really struggled with that and I know she re-recorded him a number of times before she came up with a voice simulating the late actor.

My audio books are featured at Amazon.com, Audible.com and iTunes as well as in ebook and print editions. Audible placed my first four books on sale for the first month. Two of them are also on Whispersync; one of them my first Hamilton Kids’ novel, Mystery of Spider Mountain, which is currently on sale for only $1.99.

I have more books in production, which will become available later this month, and I check my sales each morning so I’ll know which books to promote. And promote you must, as with ebooks and print editions.

I believe that audio books will continue to grow in popularity because they can be listened to while cooking, cleaning, walking and completing other chores as well as driving. I don’t recommend taking your iPad with you in the car unless you have a holder that will prevent it from falling to the floor, distracting you while driving. Audible gives you the option to download electronically as well as making your own CDs to play while you drive.

The audio company I’m currently with has some 30,000 audio books available and nearly 2,000 freelance narrators to record a writer’s book. Some narrators are better than others and have invested many thousands of dollars in recording equipment, often turning home closets into semi-sound proofed recording studios. So you have to listen carefully to each audition to determine which narrator to hire. They operate on an hourly basis of $50-$400 per finished hour or a 50-50 royalty split. I chose the split because you never know how well your book is going to sell. My novel, Escape, is nine and half hours long, so the hourly rate would have been astronomical.

Many audios are out-of-print books rather than sound track originals, and anyone who owns the audio rights to their books can become a part of the new marketing trend. Listening to my own books has been my ultimate writing goal, and I’m pleased that the dream has finally come true.

Before you head over there, leave a comment or question for her.If you're thinking of doing an audio book, here's a great opportunity to leave comments or ask questions from a fellow writer who's had experience in this area.

I enjoy both ebooks and audio books. Maybe audios are the coming thing. It is really nice to listen sometimes and keep the hands and eyes free for working. I'm anxious to give recording one of my books on ACX a try. As a writer, it seems Kindle sales go up and down for no reason at all. You just have to try a little of everything and see what is currently selling.

Tom, recording equipment is very expensive as are recording studios. Unless the writer is a bestseller, it's best to go with a professional narator, who will usually do a good job acting--not just reading--a book. There are also plenty of amateurs out there with makeshift recording equipment, so you have to pick and choose carefully (voice of experience here).

Christopher, how many promotions did you conduct for your book? The first month is most important when the book is on sale. I sold 71 books the first month by repeatedly tweeting with photos of my book(s) and placing notices on a lot of Facebook groups. It's up the writer to promote books, not the company. Audible has over 30,000 titles for sale, which are virtually impossible to promote separately. They placed my first book, Escape, a Wyoming Historical Novel, in their monthly newsletter and offered a $1,000 stipend to the narrator I chose, so I'm quite happy with the company.

Not if you hire a narrator on a 50-50 royalty split, which costs you nothing. The narrator is taking a risk by spending so much time recording, editing and re-recording because the book may not sell well due to the writer's lack of promotion.

The downturn in ebook sales may not be due entirely to audio books but it's certainly a facotr. Audios are so versatile because they can be played on a number of electronic devises. And they're fun to listen to.

Angel Sometimes by Helen Ginger

Angel Sometimes

Helen Ginger

Helen is the author of five books: three non-fiction, a short story anthology and a contemporary fiction, Angel Sometimes. She maintains an informational and interactive blog for writers and a weekly e-newsletter that has been going out to subscribers around the globe for thirteen years. She is an owner-partner and Women’s Marketing Director for Legends In Our Own Minds®, which specializes in creative networking opportunities for companies and groups.